Wireless communication systems provide User Equipment (UE), such as smartphones, tablet computers, and other media devices, wireless access to communication services and allow users to move about and communicate over the air with access communication networks. Data communication networks, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), exchange data packets with UEs to provide services, such as internet access, media streaming, voice calls, and text messaging.
Using LTE, a UE detects, attaches to, and registers with an LTE base station, wherein the LTE base station serves as the access point into an LTE wireless network to provide access to LTE network elements, such as a Serving Gateway (S-GW), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), and other LTE network elements. The UE can register with the LTE base station when the UE is powered-on or when the UE moves into a coverage area of the LTE base station. LTE base stations may include evolved NodeBs (eNodeBs), mini-macrocells, picocells, femtocells, and various other LTE base station capable of providing a UE access to the LTE wireless network.
The UE also typically registers with an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) to facilitate the exchange of Internet Protocol (IP) packets between UEs for media sessions and other data transfer services. The UE registers an IP address with the IMS systems over the IP access networks and use the registered IP address to exchange messaging for the IP communication sessions. A UE may register with an IMS system directly using various access systems, including LTE, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Ethernet, and other access systems.
Enhanced communication services may be available for some LTE base stations. These enhanced services may include Carrier Aggregations, beamforming, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), and backhaul services. These enhanced services can often extend or enhance a service level available for an IMS media session for a UE, such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE) calls or Video over LTE (ViLTE) calls. Unfortunately, there is no efficient and effective way to modify service levels for an IMS media session when a UE is handed-over between LTE base stations having different enhanced service capabilities.